Necromancer
by Angainawen of Ithilien
Summary: Elboron, Son of Faramir, is visiting his cousin's home in Rohan with his family. This is the recounts of one foul day during that trip. WARNING! Very dark, deals with death


**_There are many beliefs about what happens when you die. Some say you cross  
a river or just rise to the stars. Yet no one is truly sure, except a very select few who have been brought back. Death is supposedly the end for mortals, unless someone cheats fate. Yet fate isn't cheated easily;  
she is truly cunning and perplexing, making you later believe your intervention was just part of her plan. Fate is hard to control, even to  
comprehend; as any seer knows. Each thread of life is interwoven with another; making a elaborate, intricate tapestry. And each thread is one  
single life and one change in that life could snag or ruin the whole fabric. That is why most seers don't change the future, for outcomes may  
in the long-run be worse than if left alone. So the consequences of bringing back a life may mean the destruction or salvation of our world._**

__  
Some people love horses, I do not. Horses frighten me in ways I cannot explain. Yet one horse changed the course of my entire family's fate. One strong gelding that almost ended my life.  
  
I was over at my cousin's home in Meduseld, out in plains with his new steed. He was 7 while I was 5. My younger sister was with us as we debated on who should try to make it over the ditch we dug first. I said that I should for I was lighter than my husky cousin. Hallie wanted to go too, though she was only four and not allowed to ride a real horse yet. I wasn't either, but I was almost 6 and tall for my age.  
  
My cousin, Elfwine, agreed that I should go as well, partially because he didn't want to get hurt himself. So he let me on instead of Hallie. Furious at this betrayal, Haleth pinched my horse's rear and was shocked when the horse started to run in panic.  
  
I don't remember much after that, only the horse loosing its footing right at the edge of the ditch, throwing me and itself into the deep pit. Then all went black as the horse landed on my side, crushing my long legs and blackening my eye. After that, my whole life changed.  
  
I saw a dream again, the one I thought meant my unborn brother's death. Yet this time I saw a longer coffin, and I am not holding anyone's hand. My mother, completely in tears, is also pregnant and I realize the funeral is for me. Elfwine stands beside his parents, tears in my aunt's and his eyes. My coffin is lowered into the ground and again all goes dark.....

I ran for my parents as soon as the horse went out of control, knowing that I had to save my cousin. They both had fallen when I got back with his parents and my mother, since Father had left not long before. I remember my aunt and mother rushing to Hallie, while the lord prince tried to find his son. I followed him and looked at the slightly mangled body that was Elboron and wept, for he was my favorite relative.  
  
Faramir, his face very somber, gently picked up his son, knowing that he was dying. Éowyn, who was very heavy with child, ran to them; her hand covering her shocked mouth. Hallie turned to me then, I remember, and swallowed real hard. She too knew her brother's soon fate. My mother then knelt beside me, kissing my head and praying that he will live. It seemed to no avail though.

Father laid my brother in the grass and looked at his battered body, tears forming like I hadn't seen before. I was too young to understand that Father could cry at all and it truly shook me. I walked over and looked into my brother's bruised face, already draining of its color as death crept in. His breath was labored, shallow, and I knew it was Hell for my parents to watch and not be able to save him. Yet, though it was very dim, his soul was still there asleep. I looked into that placid face and remembered that I had caused this, I had killed my own brother.  
  
As I digested this grim realization a soft soothing voice resounded in my head. A proud yet comforting voice that immediately calmed my grief- stricken mind. It was female, cool, controlled, and said only three simple words, "I can help."  
  
I was too young to realize what would later happen and too fearful of my brother's life and my conscience to care. So I thought with all my might, "How?"  
  
"I can bring him back from the walls of Death," she said. "All I want is something in return."  
  
My brother shuddered real hard this time which hastened my decision, "What do you want?"  
  
"Well, something to take his place of course," the sickly sweet utterance whispered. "A brother for a brother, if you will."  
  
I didn't like the sound of that so I recoiled, "What do you mean?"  
  
"Let me have your mother's unborn child and I will save Elboron."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I can stop Elboron from dying, yet a life has to take his place. That life should be the one that hasn't started yet; the one still forming. I cannot touch it without the permission of its family and that would be you. Basically, who do you value more, Elboron? Or the brat that will take your place as youngest?"  
  
I felt sick from this choice, for either course meant the death of a brother. In the end I chose to save my older brother; starting all my troubles.

I crossed a wide grey desert, walking toward a small grey boat. My soul was to be taken across the sea, to wherever mortals go. Although I didn't want to, something told me this was destination, whether I liked it or not. I was dead and had no say anymore.  
  
Then I remember a voice calling for me from where I came and I turned to a black-hair lady with scarlet eyes and elegant features. She crooned to me, wanting me to join my kin again. She seemed very nice so I followed and in doing so opened my eyes.  
  
Immediately I was showered with love as my parents repeatedly kissed my brow and cheek. Mother was especially fervent and didn't let go of me for awhile. Hallie then hugged me too, though Father made sure all were careful of my legs, which were badly bruised and broken. I then remember the four of us walking back with my cousin and his mother up to Meduseld to patch me up, all believing that it was a miracle I lived.

Four days later Éowyn woke to find blood seeping on her sheets, her husband still asleep beside her. Frantic, she tried to stop the bleeding but it wouldn't stop. This wasn't right, she knew it. Something dreadful was wrong. Her tears and fears woke up the expecting father and he walked over to check on her. What she told him, he already knew. Yet it shook him all the same. They had lost their long awaited child.

_A/N- Sorry I haven't written in eons. No I haven't given up on To Snare. Though I am having some writer's block. This piece I know is short, though fits along the same context as Dreamer's Wishes. Hope you like it, and I promise the 3rd chapter of To Snare will be up soon!_


End file.
